Transcend

Social Venture Partners Waterloo Region presents (Featuring a Q&A with Wesley Korir Live from Boston)

On the eve of running this year's Boston Marathon, Wesley Korir will be joining us via Skype immediately following the screening for a Q&A with the audience.

This feature length documentary follows the dramatic journey of 2012 Boston Marathon Champion, Wesley Korir, and brings the audience into the world of distance running: a sport of endurance and belief.

Long-distance running allowed Wesley Korir to escape the grinding poverty of Kenya. But after winning multiple American marathons, including taking running’s most cherished prize – the Boston Marathon, he risks it all and returns home to help his fellow Kenyans create better lives for themselves. In what proves to be the most challenging race of his career, Wesley takes on a well-financed, big-party candidate to run for a seat in Kenyan parliament, attempting to balance the frenzy of campaigning with the demands of marathon training. Transcend is the story of the elusive spiritual energy that is somehow forged in the intense rigor of long-distance running, an energy Wesley Korir is using to transform the nation that has done more than any other to change the face of the marathon.

This film has a local connection: Korir’s wife and co-founder of the Kenyan Kids Foundation Canada, Tarah Korir, was born and raised near St. Clements. Some of the film’s scenes are shot on the rural roads of Wellesley Township, where Wesley trains while at his home-away-from-home.